Managing services

Given the heterogeneity of the needs of customers and employees and the variability introduced through the interaction between customers and employees, implementing the service concepts is a balancing act. To do this successfully, five tasks are particularly crucial such as segmenting the market, targeting the various customer segments and designing a portfolio of service products, selecting a coherent model of service provision, making the organisation ready to support the service provision model and continuously monitoring the extent to which the service concept is implemented. Analyse these tasks and related issues associated with implementing a service concept successfully in a service organisation. You may choose to select a service organisation to explain and analyse the tasks leading to the successful implementation of the service concept. discuss and analyse 'Implementing the service concepts' based on the contents presented in page 43-50 of the text book Gemmel, P, Van Looy, B & Dierdonck, RV 2013, Service Management: an integrated approach, 3rd edition, Pearson, Harlow, England. Analyse the design and implementation of the service concept by service organisations. Your essay needs to address the following issues. • Concepts related to segmenting the market based on customer needs and expectations • Concepts related to targeting a market segment and designing a portfolio of service products • Concepts related to selecting a coherent model of service provision • Making the organisation ready to support the service provision model • Monitoring the implementation of the service concept in a continuous way